OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Sheikh Abduladheem Salhab, the chairman of the Islamic Awkaf council in occupied Jerusalem, has denounced the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) for persisting in excavations in the vicinity of the Aqsa mosque and under its walls.

Sheikh Salhab told the PIC that his council was undertaking maintenance works in the holy site despite the ceaseless IOA obstacles.

He underlined that the IOA was impeding the periodical visits and monitoring that the UNESCO used to launch to the Aqsa mosque.

The Awkaf chairman said that the IOA blocked the visits by UNESCO’s director general, recalling that Jerusalem city was included in the World Heritage List since 1981 but the organization was not assuming its duties as it was supposed to do.

The head of the international Quds center Dr. Hassan Khater, for his part, called for renewing the Palestinian request for the formation of an international committee under leadership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to inspect and evaluate the status of the Aqsa mosque and its affiliated buildings, warning that their conditions are very serious.